The Forging Earth

- Introduction: It’s Alive! -

Life begins with water. Genesis stories from most cultures start out solely with the elements water and air, and the Who’s culture is no different. Theirs just happens to involve frozen water falling from the sky. There’s no scientific mystery behind the formation of snowflakes. But, despite the recent discovery this book is based around, what still remains puzzling is, “How can life spring from something so simple as crystallized water fragments?” Albeit, crystallized water fragments plummeting towards certain destruction? It is an intriguing problem seemingly discovered by complete accident. Had it not been for the eccentricities of a certain Swedish scientist, the current dilemma may never have been explored at all.

For those unaware, Dr. Svenni Thürgen was the man who discovered existence of the Whos and the Grinches, their close relatives. Doctor Thürgen, funny enough, was not researching anything to do with snowflakes, but instead microbes with your standard reflective microscope. He just happened to do his research outside. Dr. Thürgen always said, “I was born in the snow, I’ll die in the snow. And, dammit, I’ll do my life’s work in the snow,” – a statement that proved too true when he died from a bear mauling a short six months ago. To many he was a laughing stock and a “crackpot”. Not because he was odd or preferred to work in the cold, but because he was trying to prove that from living organisms we could, one day, harvest the same energy responsible for creating our own universe. Fortunately, as fate would have it, a solitary snowflake would unknowingly fall onto one of his slides and his observations would take him far, far away from his “energy sapping” theory and onto something far more mysterious (and less life-threatening).

            The life and death of an entire species unfolded before Dr. Thürgen’s very eyes; in comparison to human time, the process occurred almost instantaneously. Dr. Thürgen was not sure exactly what he saw, though he knew he saw something new, different, and worth showing the world. Dr. Thürgen’s methods are still unknown, but he was eventually able to capture a snowflake with out destroying or melting it and digitally record the happenings inside. The discovery of intelligent life was found, not on planets beyond or depths below, but literally right above our heads and underneath our toes. Certainly, this was a shocking revelation not many could accept a whole ten years ago. But, Dr. Thürgen grabbed the attentions of many and from his original recording we were able to discern the history behind a set of these creatures and convey them to you just as they had experienced it. Below, you’ll find that story compiled from the notes of Dr. Thürgen and his scholars and presented in narrative form. From beginning to end. From conception to its destruction.